The present invention generally relates to a device for sliding objects in a controlled manner, and, more specifically, to a sliding mechanism for a “slide-out” compartment or room for a recreational vehicle, such as a camper, trailer, fifth wheel, motor home, or the like.
Recreational vehicles (RVs), such as travel trailers, fifth wheels, campers, various other types of trailers, motor homes and the like, offer users the opportunity to escape the rigors of everyday life and explore the world we live in. In some cases, resembling a small home on wheels, an RV is capable of transporting and comfortably sheltering people for extended periods of time. The primary benefit of such an RV is to enhance the camping or traveling experience by providing the comforts of home away from home. Additionally, the occupant is given the option of braving the elements, commonly known as “roughing it,” or retreating to the protection afforded by the RV. Thus, the spirit of “roughing it” may be maintained without deprivation of the full camping experience.
Although freely mobile, as the size of RVs increase, the ease of handling tends to decrease. Additionally, RVs have dimensional limits dictated by highway regulations or the specific configuration of truck bed that contains the camper. Further, the capacity of the motor vehicle or motor in the RV itself may limit the size of the RV. Responding to the need for more living space inside a smaller RV, numerous different RVs incorporate pop-up tops and/or slide-out rooms for selectively expanding the living area. Designed to be used only when the RV is parked, these rooms are retracted and stored in the interior of the RV during travel, and are slid outwardly when the RV is parked. Generally, upon parking the RV, the slide-out rooms are moved horizontally to an extended position to increase the useable interior space of the vehicle. Alternatively, pop-up tops may be used that move vertically and/or horizontally to increase the interior space of the RV.
Several different devices have been proposed for use as slide-out rooms. Included among those proposed are expandable camper bodies and enclosures, and slidable room assemblies for RVs. Envisioned for RV use, some older slide-out devices generally include accordion-like side walls laterally joined to a rigid end wall. Supporting the walls is a slidable frame carried on the main RV frame to slidably extend and retract from and within the main RV frame. Traditionally, a manually operated or motorized driving mechanism interconnects between the sliding frame and the main frame for expansion and retraction of the slide-out.
The trend in the RV industry over the last several years concerning slide-out rooms has been to incorporate the entire slide-out assembly within the main frame of the RV. This trend, has led to the use of sliding tubes or beams that are attached to or integrally formed with the main frame of the RV. The associated driving mechanism is attached to the main frame or in close proximity thereto. However, the components forming the slide out mechanism tend to be scattered within the interior of the RV with the motor in one location, the driving mechanism encompassing another interior region, and the load bearing members extending across a substantial part of the interior of the RV. As such, the drive mechanisms and other components associated with these sliding mechanisms have become more complex and costly to install, repair, and/or replace.
Driving mechanisms for RV slide-out rooms that are currently available, function in many different forms. They tend to, however, generally share many of the same functional and structural characteristics. One variation of slide-out drive mechanisms involves the use of threaded drive screws to drive racks and pivoted cross-members that extend or retract the slide-out room. Another type of drive mechanism uses toothed geared drive assemblies having racks that expand or contract upon rotation of a toothed gear. Unfortunately, during the rigors of travel, the racks may become disengaged from the gears thereby preventing the slide-out room from being extended or retracted.
Further efforts to provide drives for slide-out rooms have led to the use of hydraulic cylinders. Resembling horizontally installed hydraulic jacks, these mechanisms slidably force the room open as the hydraulic jack extends. Likewise, the hydraulic cylinder can slidably close the room. Although straightforward in design, hydraulic systems often tend to be fragile in nature and being subject to deleterious rigors of vibration in the transport of the RV over the roadway can experience a relatively short service life.
Though these various devices solve many problems, they still require a significant amount of space within the recreational vehicle for the motor and drive mechanism. While motor home type RVs have substantial amounts of space to accommodate the required motors and driving mechanisms, the space within camper and trailer type RVs is at a premium and limits the application of currently slide-out room technology. For example, in motor home type slide-out rooms, the trend is to include a drive mechanism that extends from one side of the motor home to the other to provide the necessary load bearing strength. This technique is inoperable for camper type RVs because a camper slide-out room must slide out from a small wing wall that extends over the side of a pick-up. To allow an individual to use the camper, the driving mechanism may not extend into the central isle of the camper, and therefore must be limited to the dimensional restrictions of the wing wall. Furthermore, people still desire access to the interior of the camper when the slide-out room is retracted. Consequently, the slide-out room and associated driving mechanism cannot substantially block the interior isle. As such, it would be beneficial to reduce the space required for the motor and drive mechanism of a slide-out room for motor homes, and especially campers and trailers.
Another problematic characteristic often shared by prior art drive mechanism designs is the intended location of the operating mechanism. Slide-out driving mechanisms are usually installed as original equipment during manufacture of the RV. Termed “OEM” equipment, the installation locations of these devices is often chosen without consideration of the fact that it may be desirable to subsequently gain access to such mechanisms for repair and/or replacement. As a result, the devices are often incorporated within the confines of the main frame of the RV making repairs costly and replacement nearly impossible.
Additionally, with current slide-out room construction a relatively large gap is created between the slide-out room and the RV body when the slide-out room is extended. During use under adverse weather conditions, such as wind, rain, sleet, or snow, water tends to leak into the interior of the recreational vehicle in the area between the slide-out room and the exterior wall of the vehicle. Current approaches to solving this problem involve filling the gap with a sealer to prevent infiltration of inclement weather. Unfortunately, since the gap between the bottom of the slide-out room and the RV body is large, the effectiveness of the sealer is limited. Furthermore, since the sealing material is less durable than other portions of the RV, over time, the larger sealers tend to deteriorate, thereby allowing wind, rain, sleet, or snow to creep into the drive mechanisms of the slide-out room or to damage the walls of the RV body.
Another problem with current RV mechanisms occurs once the RV has been in use for a period of time. During construction of an RV, the slide-out room is adjusted to properly fit the sidewalls and cooperate with the slide mechanisms. During use, however, the dimensions of the slide-out room and the body of the recreational vehicle may change due to a number of conditions. Current construction techniques and slide mechanisms make it difficult to readjust the fit of the slide-out room relative to the recreational vehicle's sidewalls and floors, thereby providing inefficient sliding, binding, and damage to the sides and floor of both the slide-out room and the body of the recreational vehicle.
A further problem with many of the available mechanisms for slide-out rooms for an RV is that they are fairly large and cumbersome. These mechanisms include numerous pieces and are difficult to adapt to differing sizes of slide-outs. Further, these mechanisms are difficult to repair and replace.
It would be an advance to provide RV mechanisms for sliding a slide-out room on an RV, such as a camper, trailer, fifth wheel, motor home, or the like, that is compact, reliable, while reducing the possibility of infiltration of adverse weather conditions within the interior of the RV. In particular, it would be an advance to provide a sliding system that incorporates sliding mechanisms, driving mechanisms, and structural support elements within a unit that requires little space for installation and use, while being reliable. It would further be an advantage to be able to use the unit regardless of the size of the desired slide out.